Kolkata, may 8: They were under the scanner for languishing at the bottom of the table, tagged IPL’s Test team, and reeling under pressure following the sacking of CEO Charu Sharma.

Today, Bangalore Royal Challengers choked on the 22-yard strip as Rahul Dravid’s team collapsed to a five-run defeat against a resurgent Kolkata.

Chasing 130 to win, Bangalore could not keep up the pace against some disciplined bowling from Kolkata — particularly from unlikely bowling hero and Man of the Match Sourav Ganguly (3-0-7-1) who dismissed Dravid in the match’s turning point. Bangalore finished on 124-4, failing to score 54 runs off the last four overs after Mark Boucher (50) and Cameron White (30) gave much hope with a 30-ball 45-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Coming into the game, the Knight Riders were a beleaguered lot as well, with four straight losses and further crippled by news that Shoaib Akhtar was not fit to play.

The entire match revolved around Ganguly, who first almost jeopardised the home team’s chances with a painstaking 20-run knock, and then made amends several times over with his sharp bowling effort.

After the first two overs of the Kolkata innings produced just nine runs, it was only a matter of time before the Royal Challengers bowlers started chipping away with wickets.

The first to go was Aakash Chopra (2), trapped leg-before by Dale Steyn in the third over. Next to depart was Aussie Brad Hodge (10), who failed to clear Zaheer over the fence. With the big-hitting David Hussey (26 runs off 12 balls) for company, much depended on Ganguly, but the out-of-form batsman made the mistake of being over-defensive in the 16-overs-a-side rain-curtailed match.

Drawing boos from the 50,000 spectators for his edgy batting, Ganguly eventually paid the price by scrambling for a desperate single that was never there, getting run-out by Cameron White from mid-on.

Thanks to some smart, brisk scoring from Laxmi Ratan Shukla (17) and Murali Kartik (17), the team leapfrogged from a precarious 88-6 at one stage to a respectable 129 for 7 off 16 overs. As it turned out, it was enough.

Scoreboard

Kolkata: A Chopra lbw b Steyn 2, B Hodge c Kumar b Khan 10, S Ganguly run out (White) 20, D Hussey run out (Steyn/Boucher) 26, T Taibu c Boucher b Steyn 15, L Shukla b Steyn 11, W Saha not out 17, M Kartik c&b Kumar 17, U Gul not out 6, extras (lb-3, w-2): 5

Total (7 wickets; 16 overs): 129

FoW: 1-9, 2-20, 3-46, 4-64, 5-80, 6-88, 7-122

Bowling: D Steyn 4-0-27-3, Z Khan 3-0-27-1, P Kumar 3-0-36-1, Vinay Kumar 3-0-15-0, A Kumble 3-0-21-0

Bangalore: J Arunkumar run out (Hodge) 22, S Chanderpaul c Kartik b Sharma 7, M Boucher not out 50, R Dravid b Ganguly 5, C White run out (Kartik) 30, P Kumar not out 4, extras (lb-3, w-2, nb-1): 6

Total (4 wickets; 16 overs) 124

FoW: 1-17, 2-32, 3-51, 4-96

Bowling: A Dinda 3-0-20, I Sharma 4-0-25-1, U Gul 3-0-30-0, S Ganguly 3-0-7-1, M Kartik 2-0-24-0, L Shukla 1-0-15-0